


Nothing Sure in This World

by Startedwith1Whisper



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cross-Post, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Disasters, F/M, Multi, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-24
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-22 10:59:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2505359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Startedwith1Whisper/pseuds/Startedwith1Whisper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just before the wedding, Amita realizes that Charlie isn't the one she loves most. This is the first of many relationship dramas to come up among the Eppes family, the FBI agents, and the mathematicians. Will there be a wedding? If so, who's getting married?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Amita

**Author's Note:**

> The title is taken from "White Wedding" by Billy Idol.  
> OK, this is obviously an AU version of the series finale. I always felt that Charlie and Amita were too alike and shouldn't have ended up together-I saw sparks between Charlie and Liz and thought Colby would've been good for Amita. In addition to the wedding being significantly altered, Terry has come back and Larry and Megan are gone-he took one of the visiting professor slots at Oxford and she's helping Scotland Yard with their profiling.

The food cart that had been left outside the room included a bowl of apples. I noticed them earlier, but I can't stop staring at them now. One of them's a Granny Smith, and every time I look at it I think “Colby’s eyes are that exact color.” 

I suddenly find myself thinking about Colby-he's so different from any other man I've ever met, including Charlie. The mental toughness instilled in him from his military past belies a boyish charm reserved for women and an incredible kindness brought out around children. 

Wait a minute. Am I really fantasizing about another man just before my wedding? What does this mean? All of a sudden, it hits me: 

I can’t go through with this. 

I love Colby too much to marry Charlie.


	2. Colby

I've missed my chance. Beautiful, mysterious, compassionate, and smarter than I'd ever have any hope of being, even if I lived for a thousand years-Amita Ramanujan is everything I could possibly want in a woman.

Man up, Granger. You handled a treacherous "friend" who wanted to sell you to the Chinese-surely you can handle watching the woman you love marry another man.

… Can’t you?


	3. Charlie

I’m about to marry Amita. I’ve known her for years-first I was her thesis advisor, and then I worked alongside her and thought I was falling in love with her. I should be the happiest man in the world right now. So why am I feeling like I can’t breathe?

I slip out the back door of the building to get some fresh air-well, fresh by smoggy California standards. It gives me some clarity, and I realize what I’m really feeling. I don’t want to move to England-I’d rather stay here at CalSci and keep helping Don and the team.

Now that I’m actually considering my own feelings, I don’t really think I want to marry Amita, either. It’s not that I’m afraid of a long-distance relationship, or even a long-distance marriage. I just don’t think we’re as compatible as we thought we were.

I’ve always been compatible with Liz. She seems to get the gist of most of my mathematical concepts-which is more than I’ve ever been able to say for Don. We get along really easily on a personal level too, and I think we’ve had sparks in the past. I even remember a vague feeling of jealousy when she was sleeping with Don, despite my involvement with Amita.

I’m sure of how I feel now. I can’t go through with any of this. I know I want to stay in LA, and I think I’m in love with Liz.


	4. Liz

So this is it. In a few minutes, Charlie Eppes is officially off the market. Amita’s one lucky bitch. Wait, she’s not a bitch at all. Why the hell did I just call her that?

As I try to answer that, I feel like I’ve been hit by one of those huge, gnarly breakers the surfers at Venice Beach are always talking about. I’ve always gotten along well with Charlie-maybe because I understand the math better than the guys do-but I ignored the sparks hiding there. I think I’ve been in love with him this whole time. I only slept with Don because he was the next best thing, the substitute Eppes.

I feel like I should leave. Then I get an idea:

I don’t have to leave. I can just use my poker face.

Maybe that way he can just get married and be happy with her without knowing I’m still in love with him.


	5. Don

My little brother is getting married. For some reason, that surprises me. I think I’m just so used to seeing him buried in his math that I don’t really expect him to have any sort of a love life. Or maybe it’s just because I’m notoriously bad at dealing with my emotions.

Or is there something else keeping me from getting it? I never understood what Amita saw in my brother. Maybe some sort of kink from dating her old professor, but that’s about it. Then again, what did I see in Terry?

I missed her twice-once after the Laundromat, and then again when she left the team. In a rare moment of emotional clarity, I realize I still do.

What do they always say at weddings? “Speak now or forever hold your peace?” Yeah, I definitely have something to say-and it’s not to Charlie or Amita.


	6. Robin

Charlie and Amita are getting married today, and Don called me in desperate need of my services as an emergency wedding date, despite the fact that we just broke up a few weeks ago. I said yes because no one should have to go to a sibling’s wedding alone, and because I like Amita. I don’t think Charlie ever quite warmed up to me, but I think Amita and I could be pretty good friends, if she wants it.

Right now Don’s staring off into space. No, actually, he’s looking in the last direction Terry was going when she went to help Amita change. Apparently he still has a thing for her. I thought so.

I came today mainly because Don didn’t want to attend his brother’s wedding alone. I can definitely let him go-especially if he somehow manages to get back with Terry. Being friends with my ex-boyfriend’s brother’s ex-fiancée is going to be a little weird, but I’m a big girl. I can handle it.


	7. Terry

After five years away, it’s so nice to see David, Amita, and the Eppes family again-especially for something like a wedding. It’s also nice to meet their new colleagues-Colby, Liz and Nikki. I’m talking to David when Colby suddenly barges in. “Hey, Terry,” he says, “can I cut in for a minute? I really need to talk to David right now.” He has a really serious expression on his face, so I take the hint. “Sure, it’s fine. Go, David.”

Colby’s pulled David aside, but I can still hear him. He’s saying that he’s in love with Amita and needs his best friend’s advice on whether or not to do something about it. David tells him, “You have to go for it, man.” This reminds me of that long-ago Laundromat date with Don-not all that romantic, but a lot of fun.

I still miss Don.

Maybe I should try to ask him out.


	8. David

I’m talking to Terry for the first time in five years when Colby comes storming up to us. This particular expression-like his world, his inner world, is slipping away from him-is unusual on him. I excuse myself from Terry to pull Colby aside-he is my best friend, after all. I’ll get back to Terry later.

He’s in love with Amita and is trying to figure out whether or not to stop the wedding. I’m surprised-but then again, I’m sorta not. If you ask me, I think she’s got a thing for him, too.

He repeats his question: “Should I say something or not?”

There’s only one thing I can tell him.

“You have to go for it, man.”


	9. Nikki

I’m in the bathroom right now. I had to go in there-it's the only place quiet enough for me to sort through everything I’ve just heard. Millie, Charlie’s boss, just told me that Charlie wants to call off the wedding because he’s actually in love with Liz. I also talked to Terry, who says she overheard Colby confessing to David that he’s in love with Amita. It’s not that I don’t trust Terry, but I barely know her and she was passing on second- or thirdhand news. I just need some time to process it all.

Not that my own feelings are making the processing any easier. Lately I’ve been finding myself attracted to David. I know it’s dangerous to start an office romance-Don’s a walking example of the risks-so I’m nervous about the idea. But now I don’t want to go through the agony Colby’s in.

I want to try with David, sooner rather than later.

I think I’ll ask him out at the end of the night.


	10. Millie

Weddings are always surreal to a certain extent, but this is probably the weirdest one I’ve been to. I just got done talking to Amita. “Millie,” she told me, “I can’t do this.” I thought she meant she wants to change the scale of the wedding or reschedule it, but it turns out she can’t marry Charlie at all. Apparently she’s in love with Colby.

I’m looking for Charlie-somebody said he went out back. He can’t do it either? Something about Liz? A love square?! Wow.

I have an idea.

Alan, I think it’s time for us to get married.

What? Can’t let a perfectly good wedding go to waste.


	11. Alan

My youngest son is getting married. Oh wait, no, he’s not-he’s actually panicking out back. Millie tells me that he doesn’t think he can go through with it and that Amita wants to tap out too-something about Colby. Grandchildren are slipping through my fingers. Can this day get any worse?

Hold on. Did that really happen?

It did. Millie just sorta proposed to me.

Ah, what the hell. Let’s do it.


	12. Epilogue

The more Amita stares at that damn Granny Smith in the bowl of apples, the more convinced she becomes that Colby is the right man for her. She pokes her head out of her office just as Charlie comes back in. “Charlie, could you come in for a minute? I need to talk to you.”

Charlie nods tightly. “Sure. I need to talk to you too.” They don’t come out for several minutes. When they do, Amita’s not wearing her gown or ring anymore.

The team takes their seats, except for Don, who gets a text from Charlie: “Strategy meeting in the hall.” He shrugs and heads out into the hall.

Nikki is the first to speak up. “What’s going on out there?"

David shrugs. “Beats me.”

Terry presses her ear against the door. “I’m getting ‘change’ or ‘changed’ and ‘wedding,’ but I can’t make out anything else.” She doesn’t get a chance to, because the force of Don’s “WHAT?!” manages to penetrate the door and knock her over.

Don comes back shortly after Terry scrambles back into her seat. He looks befuddled, which surprises everyone-they'd anticipated anger from his tone. “Uh, guys, Charlie and Amita have an announcement to make. They’ll be in in just a second.” He takes his seat.

The door opens again, and Charlie and Amita come in together, arms linked at the elbow. He’s still in his tux, but she’s replaced her wedding gown with a strapless purple dress with a short, full skirt.

“Hey, guys,” Charlie starts. “We just want to tell you all that we’re calling off the wedding.”

“Sorry,” Amita picks up. “We know you’re disappointed, but we realized at the last minute that we’re not as compatible as we thought we were and that we, uh, we’re both in love with other people. We didn’t want to go through with it because we were expected to and end up miserable.”

“And they’re both here with us. Liz, I have a connection with you that I never had with Amita. I’ve tried to deny it for quite a while now, because I thought I’d be happy with a fellow mathematician, but I need someone different from me to balance out my equation.” Charlie pauses. “Do you think you’re up for the challenge?”

Liz smirks. “Yeah, I think I can handle that.” They kiss briefly, uncertain of the protocol for this situation, and everyone scoots down one seat to make room for Charlie to sit next to his new lover.

“I’m the one who started this whole ‘call-off-the-wedding’ thing,” Amita continues. “Something off the food cart, of all things, made me face the doubts that had been nagging me in the back of my mind, and I finally decided that it was time to trust my instincts. Colby, I’ve never known a man like you, with your particular combination of tough and compassionate and charming. I’ve been secretly in love with you for a while, and I want to try to make things work with you-if you’ll have me.”

Colby feels a weight lift off his shoulders at her words. “Of course I’ll have you.” He pulls her over, jostling Millie and Alan, who are sitting on the end.

“Sorry,” Amita hisses over her shoulder to her almost in-laws. She tries to figure out whether or not to sit on his lap and finally does when the rest of the three interconnected families (Eppes, FBI, and CalSci) simultaneously give the “oh, OK, go ahead” hand flap.

The officiant looks perturbed. “Look, I don’t get paid unless there’s a wedding, so does anyone here actually want to get married?”

Millie stands up, pulling Alan behind her as she walks to the front of the crowd. “Yes-we do.”

After briefly asking their names, the officiant rolls his eyes and starts the new wedding ceremony. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the joining of Mildred and Alan in marriage…” The ceremony goes off smoothly after those initial bumps, and the group erupts in cheers as the officiant finally says “By the power vested in me by the state of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

The original reception plans are abandoned in favor of the interconnected families going to “that new Italian place,” which had kept the moniker despite the fact that it hasn’t been new for some four years. As they take their seats, debts are loudly settled and money passes hands with the speed of a champion cup stacker. This lasts for a good ten minutes, and then the drinks come. Somebody Skypes Larry and Megan, who are getting settled in London.

Larry’s speech starts out marginally OK: “Thank you, Charles, for passing your Oxford opportunity on to me. My regrets for the demise of your and Amita’s relationship, and my deepest joy that you’ve found mates who are better suited to you. Congratulations, Alan and Mildred, for finally tying the matrimonial knot.” However, it soon meanders off and becomes something totally unrelated.

While Larry blathers and Megan tries to figure out a way to save him, Terry turns to Don. “You know, I’m coming up on laundry day pretty soon here, and I might need some help with it.”

Don raises an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

Terry grins. “Yeah. I haven’t gotten my washer and dryer set up yet, and there’s this really nice Laundromat near my new place. Maybe you could grab a pepperoni pie and come help me-say, 6:30 Sunday evening?”

Don laughs. “I knew you’d come around eventually, woman! See you there!” They hug and turn back to the iPad, where Megan has finally stopped her husband and is now telling stories about her new colleagues and their initial resistance to her profiling methods.

"David," Nikki suddenly says, "do you want to hit Roscoe's together Friday night-you know, like a casual date?"

"How'd you know I've been hankerin' for chicken and waffles? Friday night it is!"

Robin would say something to Amita about possibly starting a friendship, but now's not the time. She can always ask when they play tennis together in a couple weeks.

Charlie and Amita have finally found the people they were meant to be with. Don and Terry are trying to rekindle an old flame. David and Nikki are starting something new. Robin thinks she's found a friend. Alan and Millie are married, and he thinks he may get grandchildren yet. Megan and Larry are finding new opportunities in a new place, and they've found a new way to stay in touch with their LA friends. None of them think they could be any happier than they are now.


End file.
